ALICE SPRINGS NEWS
May 8, 2008. This page contains all major
reports and comment pieces in the current edition.


Parks bid in Senate. By ERWIN CHLANDA.

CLP Senator Nigel Scullion says he will muster support in the Senate to defeat a Bill required to transfer Territory national parks to Aboriginal ownership.
He says he has no doubt the Liberal and National Senators will be backing him, which means the Bill will be defeated in the Senate if it is presented to it before June 30.
On that date the composition of the Senate will change, following last year’s Federal election.
But Senator Scullion says there is a good chance “we will succeed” in defeating the Bill even in the new Senate, with the possible help of anti-pokies campaigner Nick Xenophon and Family First’s Steve Fielding.
The parks transfer has been requested by the NT Government in a largely secret deal with the Central Land Council, ostensibly because the parks could be exposed to land claims.
They would be managed under a 99-year lease-back to NT parks authorities.
The only commitment the NT Government has made to the public was that there would be a policy of “no fees, no permits”.
The transfer, under the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act, requires an amendment to the Act which needs to go before both Houses of Federal Parliament.
Successive Coalition ministers of Aboriginal affairs have not complied with NT Government requests for the hand over to be initiated.
However, the new Rudd Government’s Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, has said she would schedule the parks.
A spokeswoman for her said on April 27: “We intend to intoduce the bill this year.”
Senator Scullion says the proposed changes to the ownership of 13 parks in The Centre, including the iconic West MacDonnells, have sparked off wide-spread public opposition when it was disclosed that Aboriginal interests would get priority in running businesses in the parks; these may be living areas, large-scale closures related to traditional activities and even 99-year leases for cattle grazing.
Because of the secrecy surrounding the issues, “none of them have been discussed adequately,” says Senator Scullion. “We need to reopen the debate.”


Moment of truth for Alice. COMMENT by ERWIN CHLANDA.

Take a sickie, or better still, leave without pay, but be there: Thursday, June 5 is the first day of the rest of Alice Springs’ life.
A no-holds-barred public forum will be setting the development agenda for the town.
It will sow the seeds for the hardware enabling us to realise our dreams, fix our problems, and recreate an exciting, diverse, optimistic community.
Or it won’t and the forum will have been just another talkfest.
In that case a lot more people will be packing their bags.
A decade of a dramatic housing shortage, soaring land prices, stifling businesses which couldn’t get accommodation for their staff, was followed by an exodus of skilled people and an influx of unskilled.
We can stop that trend – or surrender to it.
A senior public servant says “nothing is off the agenda” of the forum but he urges participants not to get bogged down in petty issues: rather they should  “take a look at The Alice from the top of a hill”.
Where will the town grow to?
Currently the preferred option is heading east on Undoolya Road, into pretty country, but expensive so far as power, water and sewage are concerned.
Buildings on top of hills?
Why not, some will argue. Many of Europe’s most magnificent edifices are in elevated places.
Or should the town grow along the South Stuart Highway – not as pretty but cheaper?
Should acres of land in Ilparpa Valley be reclaimed by replacing with a hi-tech purification and recycling system the current sewerage plant that evaporates two billion litres of water each year in the dryest part of an ever drier continent? 
Should there be housing part-way up the northern flank of the MacDonnell Ranges, along Stephens Road, in the Mt Johns Valley, the most immediately available site for new residential developments?
Although that area has the headworks in place, it also has a major headache.
The Labor Government, shortly after coming to power in 2001, exacerbated the housing crisis by creating the new – far too small – Larapinta development.
The government set a precedent of valuing native title rights at half the value of the undeveloped land.
Why did the native title holders get 50% of the undeveloped land, and not 10% or 90%?
We’re not told, because this government does deals behind closed doors and fobs off the public with glib spin.
Will the 50% formula apply to Mt Johns Valley?
Ask Delia Lawrie, the Treasurer and Minister for Planning and Lands, Infrastructure and Transport, and Public Employment.
Or better still, you tell her, because that’s how it works in a democracy.
She’ll be at the forum, although for how long isn’t clear yet.
Or else ask Darryl Pearce, CEO of the native title body Lhere Artepe, who’ll attend along with Mayor Damien Ryan, Ray Smith from the Department of Planning and Infrastructure, and Paul Carter from the University of Melbourne (Alice News, May 1).
Town planning goes a lot further than which street, which park and which school go where.
If you don’t believe that just look at the disasters that have unfolded in the past 10 years.
The sloppy management of public hosing, permitting vandalism, riotous behavior and overcrowding, has created mini-ghettos dotted throughout town, making parts of Alice Springs unlivable. (See also box this page.)
Another set of ghettos, is found in the 18 town camps, in many of which fester filth, violence and idleness while the Town Council and the Federal and NT governments continue to put their faith in Tangentyere Council, despite its sustained and blatant failure to perform, its $20m a year handout from the taxpayer notwithstanding.
The Town Council’s sustained groveling to Tangentyere is hard to understand. Where is the evidence of efficient municipal services to the camps, the check on the exploding volume of illegal camping?
Last week the Alice News provided photographic evidence of the spread of illegal camping and littering, in the hills around town.
We showed the pictures to the Town Council with a request for comment.
The council arranged an inspection, inviting police and Tangentyere to take part.
The News asked to observe that inspection.
The Town Council agreed so long as all agreed. The police didn’t mind, but Tangentyere did, and the Town Council barred us from the inspection.
The News has raised this in no uncertain terms: it’s the Town Council which runs this town, not Tangentyere.
And we, at the News, have an obligation to inform the public from first hand observation, not from hearsay, handouts or spin.
Town Council CEO Rex Mooney has undertaken to put these issues before the council, because in the context of planning and the town’s future, they need to be resolved.
There is a glimmer of hope in connection with the camps: the proposed redistribution of electoral boundaries acknowledges that they have a “community of interest” with the town, not, as at present, with the bush electorates of Stuart and MacDonnell.
And then there’s the “normalization” initiative, making the camps part of the town, with common privileges and obligation. It was Mal Brough’s idea, torpedoed by Tangentyere which said no to a $60m offer from Canberra.
What happens now? There are “high level talks” we’re informed. Please explain.
It will be interesting to see what heed the government will pay to what the burghers of The Alice want.
Public consultation can be a vexed exercise. Recent probing of the public’s views on the town’s water supply began with the rider (we’re paraphrasing): “You can demand anything you like so long as it doesn’t cost any more than we’re spending at the moment.”
The representatives of the public, Alderman Murray Stewart (Town Council) and Donald McDonald (Chamber of Commerce), settled for a mere 20% of growth in drinking water consumption over the next 10 years. (Alice News, Nov 8, 2007.)
Because of costs, it seems no-one argued for tapping the huge reserves west of the current bore field, nor other ones.
And no-one it seems mentioned the words “wave pool” for Darwin where the NT Government spends the lion’s share of its lavish funding.
The planning forum will achieve what we, the people of the town, want it to achieve.
If it doesn’t, we’ll have only ourselves to blame.


NT Budget: Nothing big for Centre. By KIERAN FINNANE.

There appear to be no major announcements for Central Australia in this year’s Territory Government budget, the first under Treasurer Delia Lawrie. 
“More for families” is the mantra in media releases for both Central Australia and Palmerston, with an emphasis for both on the changes to  the HomeNorth scheme and stamp duty cuts.
The Home North price cap for Alice has been lifted to $265,000 (from $240,000), while in Palmerston it has been lifted to $385,000 (from $350,000).
From a scan of some 60 residential properties for sale advertised by two major real estate agents in Alice Springs in mid-April, the new price cap would have allowed first home buyers a choice of three houses and 11 units (only one of which had three bedrooms).
Stamp duty concessions for first home buyers have gone up from  $350,000 to $385,000.
“Safer streets” is the next highlight for both the Centre and Palmerston, but again with no major initiative announced.
Total funding across the Territory for Police, Fire and Emergency Services has increased by 81% since 2001, according to Ms Lawrie.
However, the increase on last year’s expenditure is less than $1M, according to the budget papers.
Central Australia’s community safety will be “boosted” by an allocation of $40.72m, according to Minister for Central Australia Rob Knight.
However it is unclear if that allocation contains anything more than a business as usual spend.
Media releases for both the Centre and Palmerston refer to the same $9.3m Safer Streets plan over two years, which will  deliver 60 extra police across the Territory.
How many of those  Alice or the Centre will get is not specified but it will mean “more patrols and resources for Alice Springs targeting key issues of youth crime and alcohol related violence,” says Mr Knight.
Is that more since 2001 or more since last year?
The budget papers show increases on last year’s spend of under $2M across the Territory for “general policing, crime detection, investigation and prosecution”.
About half of this increase comes from shaving the other areas of PFES.
The government’s media release reports five infrastructure highlights for Central Australia but the three big ones – electricity infrastructure, hospital upgrades and the Desert Peoples Centre – do not make it onto the budget papers’ list of new capital works.
The new money is for Ross Park Primary School ($2M, previously announced) and roads upgrades.
Shadow Minister for Central Australia Matt Conlan singles out $4M on a gravel access road to Pine Hill horticultural blocks as a welcome spend.
He says otherwise the budget announcements for Central Australia are “remarkable in their unremarkability”.
He says the increase of $2M, as a result of public pressure, to the Patient Assistance Travel Scheme (PATS) is small.
The budget papers promise additional ward beds for Alice Springs Hospital (an unspecified number but probably fewer than the six specified for Royal Darwin); an additional $1m for a renal dialysis satellite facility in Alice (for 32 more patients); and additional $280,000 to introduce a Community Midwifery program to Alice; an additional $200,000 to expand allied health services at ASH; an additional $600,000 to Hospital in the Home services in Alice.
The government highlights four items to boost tourism in Central Australia:
• $1.5M to develop the Red Centre Way Interpretive Centre in the West MacDonnell National Park – this is a new capital work;
• $1M for the Red Centre Way global marketing campaign;
• $620,000 for tourism marketing, industry improvement and visitor information services in the Centre; and,
• $180,000 for festivals (Alice Desert and Beanie). 
The marketing amounts don’t seem remarkable in the context of Tourism NT’s $40M budget, some $25M of which goes in the “purchase of goods and services”. 
The combined amount for the festivals is less than an additional $260,000 announced for the annual Darwin Festival.
The budget papers announce “support” for the Regional Arts Australia conference, art at the heart, in Alice in October but do not specify the amount.
Bush schools will benefit from an upgrade of $10.2M. In the Centre (and Barkly) Yuendumu ($1.2M), Ali Curung ($1M for new senior years facility) and Arlparra ($2M for new middle years school). 
$1.5M will be spent on 10 extra teachers across the territory to improve educational outcomes for Indigenous students.
Under Closing the Gap initiatives the budget allocates $5.9M to “expand” the Child Abuse Taskforce (including 24 additional “police resources”); $2.3M for increased policing in remote communities; $980,000 for additional community correctional officers and court clinicians; and  $420,000 to establish 10 community courts.


‘No discrimination in renting.'

The real estate industry has rejected allegations of discrimination against Aboriginal would-be tenants.
Faith Gardner, who wrote to the Alice News about a report on Barbara Shaw, a resident of Mt Nancy town camp (April 24), claimed: “Irrespective of the anti-discrimination laws, there is clearly a hesitancy to lease properties to Indigenous people, irrespective of their ability to pay rent and maintain tenancy requirements. 
“Without a tenancy reference, it is incredibly difficult to obtain a lease.
“When you have lived a transient life, for whatever reason, and have never had cause or opportunity to lease, this obstacle is even greater.
“I work as a liaison officer, and one element of my job is to assist people with developing rental histories, in lieu of a mainstream tenancy reference.  This is an incredibly time consuming process, one that requires a great deal of support to collate; for someone with limited literacy skills, it is an impossible feat.
“Until attitudes in the real estate sector are changed, many people are left with no option but to continue living in the Town Camps.”
David Forrest, the vice-president and southern delegate of the Real Estate Institute of the NT, replied: “I am not sure it is up to the real estate sector to change its attitude.
“The real estate industry operates as agents for the owners of property and as such represent the needs and wishes of the property owners.
“If owners ask the industry to select the best possible tenant for their properties, and seeking evidence of previous good performance is part of the process via a reference, then that is what we are bound to do.
“Unfortunately, for those without written references we recognize that it is very difficult to get a rental property in this market.
“As an industry we are more than happy to work with community groups to try and seek a solution to the problem and would welcome any invitation to do so.”
Doug Fraser, head of the L J Hooker franchise in Alice Springs, says it “does not discriminate in any shape or form against any prospective tenant.
“As a licenced real estate agency we have a legal, and moral, obligation to ensure that all tenants that we place into our clients’ properties have the capacity to pay the rent and the ability and desire to maintain the property in the condition in which it was leased to them. “We mainly determine these factors by asking for references from previous landlords or other real estate agencies.
“In some instances where people may be renting for the first time, we seek guarantees from suitably qualified relatives or employers.
“Current employment, or retired people with reasonable superannuation or pension funds available to them, would certainly be a test that we would apply to determine an ability to pay rent.
“However, the capacity to maintain the property, and abide by the terms and conditions of a tenancy agreement and the provisions of the NT Residential Tenancy Act, are just as important as the payment of rent.”
[Ms Gardner later withdrew her letter, because the News would not publish it in its entirety,  but by that time we had already obtained comment, and we felt obliged to publish it. We advised Ms Gardner ahead of publication that we would do so. – ED]


Boarding school is in. By KIERAN FINNANE.

The formerly troubled secondary-age boarding school at Yulara, the resort near The Rock, has been up and running all this year, as has the college’s day campus at Docker River.
The campuses at Mutitjulu and Imanpa have had a teacher this term.
The founding body of the college, Nyangatjatjara Aboriginal Corporation, is still under administration.
Administrator Eamonn Thackaberry appointed the Lutheran Church’s Yirara College, based in Alice, to operate the Nyangatjatjara College as an interim measure in the second semester of last year (Alice News, July 12).
Enrolments are between 50 and 60 students, says head of college Gail Donaldson, with up to 31 boarders at the college facility in Yulara. The boarding house, made up of four-bed dormitories with ensuite bathrooms, can take a maximum of 36 students.
So far this year, girls have been boarding while boys have been going to day school at Imanpa and Mutijulu. Docker River has a co-ed campus, although six to 10 girls from Docker board at Yulara.
The learning program for the girls, aged 12 and a half to 19 years,  is concentrating on literacy and numeracy and, for the older girls, on vocational education, delivered by Charles Darwin University.
The college has an adopt-a-school program in collaboration with Voyages and Parks Australia, which gives the girls opportunities for work experience and work observation. Some of the students are part way through their Certificate I in food and hospitality; others are doing a preliminary course in aged care and health.
“We are catering for families who want their children educated close to home,” says Ms Donaldson.
“We are trying to get the girls interested in life outside school, in the sorts of jobs they can go back to in their communities.
“Our program also develops their social and living skills.”
The girls have all prepared a powerpoint presentation called “My life”. It talks about their families, friends, the things they like and what they want to do in later life and what they must do now to get there.
“Most of them start out thinking they’re not good at anything and they don’t have anything much.
“Doing this builds up their self-esteem,” says Ms Donaldson.
What sort of futures are they imagining?
“All of them want to be artists.  And about half want to get involved with child care. They’re crazy about their nieces and nephews. When we pick them up for school it’s the leave-taking from their nieces and nephews that’s the hardest.”
Mutitjulu has a child care centre; Docker River is developing one.
Ms Donaldson says the girls show no interest in outdoors jobs (contrary to expectation); little interest in aged care; a couple want to work in a shop; one of the seniors has said she wants to work in an office.
Attendance fluctuates: while enrolments are steadily around 60, it’s not always the same 60.
Ms Donaldson says course delivery needs to be flexible around fluctuating attendance.
She says statements of attainment at the end of each unit is motivating for some of the students, but not all.
“So we try all sorts of things – displays and other forms of acknowledgment.”
Back in their communities boys are working on “the basic NT curriculum”.
They are getting a taste of boarding this week as the girls attend the annual Kungka Career Conference (run by NPY Women’s Council).
Activities for the boys, aged up to about 16 years, will be mainly social, with a visit from Yirara’s Clontarf Football Academy a highlight.
There will also be some work-oriented excursions to places like the fire station and going out with park rangers.
“We are trying to get them to look ahead. If they want to do work like this then they’ll  be motivated to do their basic reading and writing,” says Ms Donaldson.
A steering committee, made up of all the obvious stakeholders including community and government representatives, will be meeting within the next couple of weeks to decide on the direction the college will  take for the rest of the year: for instance, on whether the girls will  continue at the boarding facility for Semester 2, or whether the boys will have a turn.


Intervention not silver bullet?

There were almost 200 more children enrolled at school in Central Australia (excluding Alice Springs) in February this year compared to February last year.
By March in both years numbers had fallen, but there were still more children enrolled in that month this year (3045) than in that month last year (2917).
However the drop is greater this year: numbers have fallen by 155 this year (from 3200 to 3045), compared to 89 last year (3006 to 2917). Though the figures are for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students,  they would appear to show a limited impact on school attendance from the Intervention.
In Alice fewer students were enrolled in February this year (3093) compared to February last year (3137), while March added only seven enrolments.
The data was supplied to the Alice News by the NT Department of Education, using Accessibility / Remoteness Index of Australia information.
Figures for the whole of the “very remote” NT (excluding “provincial” Darwin and Palmerston, and “remote” Katherine and Alice) show a gain of 363 Indigenous enrolments this year compared to last year.
Indigenous attendance rates in the very remote NT, at 66%, show no change (NT DEET website).
Meanwhile, Shadow Minister for Child Protection Jodeen Carney says the NT Government should provide the apprehension and conviction rates for the Indigenous  and non-Indigenous child abuse offenders.
Ms Carney asked for the rates in parliament in August last year.
Says Ms Carney: “Government  Ministers  consistently  claim  that inroads are being made into child abuse and convictions of child abusers.
“When the government finally released its “Closing the Gap” package [responding to the Wild-Anderson report], much was made  about  how  it  would  improve aspects of life for Aboriginal women and children in particular. 
“Yet, the Government either does not have, or refuses to  provide,  the  current rates of apprehension and conviction for those who assault children.”


Bob Taylor is going for it! By ERWIN CHLANDA.

Bob Taylor’s father is Arrernte, from the Alice Springs region.
His mother is a white Australian.
Mr Taylor, 48, is a taken away child, and so are four of his five brothers.
When he was eight, police came to their school in Adelaide, took them to see their mother, and then confined them, forcibly, at the Morialta Children’s Home until Mr Taylor was 17.
It’s the stuff of many a sad Stolen Generation story.
Not for Mr Taylor.
“It was very upsetting for all of us at the time,” he says.
“I had my demons.
“The worst times are the day you are removed and the day they let you out.”
But Mr Taylor has no bitterness.
He says the children’s home “gave me good health, an education and safety, and ultimately, the confidence to travel the world and run a business.
“Without the opportunities of education, my whole life would be different.” 
It’s a system – minus the forcible element – which he can see working for today’s troubled black children, and their parents.
“We need more boarding schools for kids,” says Mr Taylor, “on a voluntary basis.
“Kids must go to school. If they can’t read and write, what hope has their society got?”
Mr Taylor had started a chef’s apprenticeship by the time he left the home, with the Adelaide Hotel, on the corner of Greenhill and Glen Osmond Roads. (The hotel no longer exists.)
After completing his training, for 22 years Mr Taylor worked all over Australia and in Europe (in Holland).
He made occasional trips to The Centre, meeting up with his father, after not seeing him for 20 years.
“I came back in 2002 after my late uncle’s passing.
“I wanted to really connect to my family and my country, getting to know the stories and walking through the land.”
Before that, “during 20 years not being in Aboriginal society, there was something missing.
“My uncle had given me the key.”
Six years ago Mr Taylor started R T Tours Australia, in The Centre, which deep down he always regarded as home.
His guests are treated to his creations as a chef, as well as his growing knowledge of Arrernte history, culture and lifestyle.
“I like my operation to be known as a reputable business of high standard.
“It’s mainstream, there is beautiful food, well informed commentary,” he says.
“I don’t want to be pigeon-holed as an Aboriginal cultural tour.”
Mr Taylor is taking about 200 people a year “and growing”, in groups of up to 15, for tours around The Centre which last up to nine days.
This year most bookings resulted from recommendations made by previous clients.
He says his company, which owns an 18 seater bus and a seven seater 4WD, is almost entirely “self funded”: The only government assistance he got was a $17,000 grant from the NT Government for materials, a trailer, swags and chef’s gear.
“It was money well invested,” says Mr Taylor. “Paul Henderson can be pleased with the results.”
Has he sought public assistance via Aboriginal organisations?
“At present I have no dealings with Aboriginal organisations.
“I have no experience working with them,” says Mr Taylor, except for recent links with Tangentyere in connection with staff training.
His own life gives Mr Taylor a unique outlook on The Centre’s problems – and opportunities.
He says he likes “sub-contracting” tasks to Aboriginal people: “I’ve had success with contracting Aboriginal people, but like all businesses in Australia, we need more people who are reliable, conscientious and hard working.”
And from time to time there is a case for saying “no” – when humbugging is dressed as traditional sharing obligation.
“In traditional times no-one would have sat down and said, ‘go and get me food’.
“All would have been hunting and gathering,” he says, and at the end of the day they would have shared the bounty.
His customers, mostly Australians, want to have a “better understanding” of Aboriginal history, culture and the Stolen Generation.
He counters visitors’ concerns about anti-social behavior by pointing out that it’s displayed by a minority, and that no generalizing conclusions should be drawn.
“Some tourists think it’s not safe to go to the Telegraph Station, that’s how frightened people are.
“I don’t take a head in the sand attitude but I don’t promote bad things in town.
“People who litter don’t represent all Aboriginal people, there are many who care for this town.
“This is not an Aboriginal society, it’s an Australian society.”
Mr Taylor says the situation can change.
“Aboriginal people are used to change.
“Every time there’s a Federal election, the Aboriginal situations change, every four years.
“People want to achieve good for their kids.
“Alice Springs is small. The population is small.
“We have to integrate as one. And that doesn’t mean losing culture.”
Above all, says Mr Taylor, we need to “educate, protect and nurture the children.
“They are our future.”
[Mr Taylor’s website is at <www.rttoursaustralia.com.au>]


Crime, police numbers makes no sense. By ERWIN CHLANDA.








                    Assault                         Breakins                Car & property theft              Homicide
Annual crime figures for Alice Springs from 2001 to 2007, as provided by the NT Department of Justice (above) and the police staffing numbers (below) from 2003 to April 18 this year.



All categories of crime in Alice Springs have – roughly speaking – common trends: the figures were high in  2001, dropped until 2004, and then rose again to the 2001 level.
Meanwhile rising police numbers between 2003 and 2005 seem to explain the drop in crime: more cops, less crime.
However, as police numbers climbed to a record height in 2006, the crime rate – in all categories – also climbed.
The government’s response: a nearly 10% drop in police numbers this year. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.


U-mine battle heats up. By ERWIN CHLANDA.

The two sides in the debate over the proposed Angela Pamela uranium mine, 25 kms south of Alice Springs, are sniping at each other, a process that will no doubt continue for some time.
Dr Gavin Mudd, a civil engineering lecturer at Monash University in Melbourne, a scheduled speaker at a public meeting this week organised by opponents of the mine, rejected a claim by Paladin, one of the two partners in the venture, that removing uranium by mining would reduce radiation potential.
“You mobilise the radionuclides [radioactive particles] and make it even easier for them to migrate and pollute groundwater,” says Dr Mudd.
“Just mining it doesn’t activate anything,” counters Jennifer Parks, a geologist, and head of operations in the NT of the Canadian company Cameco, the second partner.
“You don’t change anything by mining it.”
Dr Mudd says there is no way, on present information, to sustain a claim by Paladin chairman Rick Crabb that between the proposed mine site and the artesian basin from which the town draws its drinking water, “there is a barrier to that aquifer and the mining will not breach this barrier”. (Alice News, Feb 28).
Ms Parks concedes geological surveys are “not complete and we have to do the work and find out.
“We don’t believe at this stage there is any conncetivity between the site of the mine and the town’s water, but we need to do the work to show this.”
Ms Parks says the project is at an extremely early stage and “there may not be a mine at all”.
All the partners have at the moment is permission from the NT Government to apply for an exploration license.
Actual mining would further depend on getting a mining license, after satisfying a string of NT Government requirements, including ecological ones.
Ms Parks says the mine would be inside a horseshoe formation of the Mereenie aquifer, but not actually close to it.
She says stock bores had been drilled to 300 meters without finding water, which has to be pumped in from Brewer Estate for the cattle.
The uranium is at 600 meters in rock that “is very dry, easy to drill”.
Any connection to the aquifer at that depth would need to be subject to further geological investigation.
Says Dr Mudd: “Fundamentally, they are claiming they don’t know much about the ore body yet they claim they know it so well there is a ‘barrier’ – they can’t have their cake and eat it too.
BARRIER
“The amount of good geological and groundwater information in the public realm on Angela-Pamela is very, very, very low.
“The only direct paper I know of is from 1990 but it does not discuss anything about a ‘barrier’ for groundwater flow.”
Dr Mudd supplied evidence to the Alice News that a Cameco subsidiary, Power Resources Inc, has received a Notice of Violation in March this year for a string of breaches, from the Department of Environmental Quality, State of Wyoming, USA.
Cameco commented to the Alice News: “Many of  the issues raised in the report are related to documentation and do not  accurately reflect our environmental performance.
“We should  have been more diligent in maintaining our permit documentation, and are  working with the regulatory authorities to bring it up to date.”
And Dr Mudd produced a newspaper clipping about a serious chemical spill in a uranium mine run by Paladin in Namibia, Africa.
The Free Press Of Namibia reported on April 25: “The spilling of a large quantity of sulphuric acid at the Langer Heinrich uranium mine has raised questions about safety procedures at the mine.
“The Namibian was informed that one of the mine’s employees had lost his grip on the hose transferring the acid from a truck to a storage facility.
“The employee apparently fled to call for help, after which a forklift dumped a large quantity of caustic soda on the spill to neutralise the acid.
“The result was explosive, according to the sources.”
“A series of loud bangs could be heard from a distance, but nobody was injured.
BANGS
“When contacted yesterday, Managing Director Wyatt Bourke [reported as Buck] said the quantity of acid spilled was not that large.
“He said, the ‘loud bangs’ were more like ‘some pops’.”
Mr Bourke, general manager of the Langer Heinrich operation, told the Alice News: “Yes, a spillage occurred. 
“Plants are designed to contain such spillages and the staff are trained to deal with them. 
“In this case it was handled quickly, efficiently and safely, and no one was hurt. 
“It is being investigated by the Namibian authorities.”
Ms Parks rejects – again subject to further exploration – an assertion by Dr Mudd that in situ leaching (ISL) is likely to be used.
This is injecting a fluid into the ground to dissolve the uranium and pump it to the surface.
Says Dr Mudd: “Based on similar geologic conditions and uranium deposits overseas, it can be technically expected that the use of ISL is reasonable, especially alkaline leach chemistry.
“For example, many US deposits in Wyoming have similar geology and are mined by alkaline in situ leaching.”
But Ms Parks says the conditions at Angela Pamela, so far as they are known, are not suitable for ISL.
“The ore is in sandstone,” she says.
“It needs to be sandwiched between impervious rock, so you can get the solution in and out again.
“It’s no use to anyone if the stuff escapes. You lose everything.
“No confining layers have been found at Angela Pamela so far.”
Ms Parks also rejects claims by anti-mine campaigner Tom Keaney that dust from the mine could be a worry for the town: the highest risk would be for mine workers, she says, yet there is “no documented evidence in Australia of a link between cancer and uranium mining”. (Alice News, May 1.)
Any dust reaching the town from the mine would be “heavily diluted”.
Ms Parks says Dr Keaney was “quoting selectively” from a report on biological effects of Ionising radiation, saying follow-up studies had not shown a “linear” link between exposure to radiation and illness below a certain threshold.
She also says Alice campaigners are using misleadingly a water contamination incident at the Ranger mine: It had nothing to do with radiation nor with ground water.
In fact the problem was a wrongly set pipe valve which directed a chemical into the mining camp’s fresh water supply.
There were no lasting effects on anyone from that incident, says Ms Parks.
But Dr Mudd says: “The Precautionary Principle should lead us to be very protective about precious groundwater resources in the arid heart of Australia.
“It should be up to Cameco / Paladin to present extensive field evidence of the current groundwater flow system, chemistry and water quality.
“At many sites around the world, for mining, civil infrastructure or similar projects, perceived hydraulic barriers have sometimes failed.
“Examples include the Olympic Dam borefields in the midst of mound springs, the CityLink tunnels in Melbourne, the Rocky Mountains Flats nuclear weapons complex in Colorado, USA, amongst others.”


Town Council aims for 20% Indigenous staff in one year. By KIERAN FINNANE.

The major businesses and institutions in town need to lead the way in Indigenous employment, says Mayor Damien Ryan.
Fourteen per cent of council staff is Indigenous – working mostly in parks and gardens, but also in the library and on the front counter.
“I would like to get to 20% within a year,” said Mr Ryan, speaking at his weekly press conference.
“And I’m calling on the bigger retailers to set the same example.”
He has spoken to Woolworths CEO Michael Luscombe on the issue and is expecting to hear from their national Human Resources section this week.
He also raised with Mr Luscombe the issue of liquor litter and abandoned shopping trolleys around town.
Mr Ryan said “skills shortage” was yesterday’s phrase; “staff shortage” is today’s. Businesses had to employ people and train them.
He said big businesses in the NT should be aiming for population parity in Indigenous employment.


In brief: Being a doc in the NT is more better.

The NT can and should make more of being a place for the practice of generalist medicine.
So says Professor John Wakerman of the Centre for Remote Health in Alice, after returning from a medical summit in Darwin last week.
The summit brought together more than 100 health professionals to look at medical workforce issues. 
“Everyone accepted that being the last bastion of the generalist is a competitive advantage in northern and central Australia,” says Prof Wakerman.
“It is the way we have to work here and it is a much more satisfying way to work.
“In places like Katherine, for example, a GP will be doing surgery and anaesthetics. For GPs in Sydney and Melbourne those skills and opportunities for procedural practice have gone.
“Specialist doctors also have to practice as generalists across a number of different fields.
“We have not been sufficiently promoting our ability in the NT to train and employ doctors in an extended role.”
The summit also agreed to look further at the creation of a full medical school in the NT, a collaborative venture between CDU and Flinders University in SA (CRH is a joint centre of Flinders and CDU) and possibly James Cook University in Queensland. 
Prof Wakerman says there is a “strong commitment” to build the Indigenous medical workforce.
“There was a lot of discussion about identifying students in the early years of high school and supporting them through their studies.”
National firm buys Centre Refrigeration
Centre Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Pty Ltd (CRAC), said to be Alice’s largest heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration company, has been acquired by Haden Engineering, a Norfolk Group Ltd.  company.
A Haden spokesperson says the acquisition will increase revenue by approximately $2.8 million and is expected to be earnings positive immediately.
The spokesperson says the addition of CRAC to Haden’s national network of branches, including one in Darwin, positions the company as a major HVAC & R service provider in Australia and brings highly qualified and experienced personnel to the team.
 CRAC’s major customers include The Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment, Spotless (Department of Defence) and Smimmac.
CRAC’s current owner will become branch manager and the majority of the workforce will transfer over to Haden.


To stay or to go, that’s the question. By DARCY DAVIS.

Will today’s youth still be in Alice in 2020 and what kind of town do they think it’ll be?
I caught up with seven Alice kids to find out.
Where do you see yourself in 2020?
“I’d like to be living somewhere near Brisbane working as a light and sound engineer,” said Toddy Shilton.
“I’ll probably be a homeless bum with a massive HECS debt under the current system so I’d like to see the government subsidising university fees by 2020,” said Nikki Friedli.
“By 2020 I’m going to be in Europe working as a translator,” said Anne Barrow. “I’d like to speak 20 languages by 2020!”
“I’ll probably be in Melbourne by 2020,” said Josh Johnny, “I’m moving there at the end of the year.”
Where will Alice by 2020?
“It will have collapsed inwards,” said Elly Patten.
“Yes,” agreed Anne, “it will actually be a hole.”
“I think that the American Space Base will be gone and we’ll lose all the Americans that were living here,” said Toddy. “Alice will be 10 degrees hotter and the population will be down by about 10,000 Americans.”
What sort of changes in technology do they expect?
“Hopefully something to replace petrol,” said Nikki.
“We’ll be out of oil by 2020 and we’ll all be stranded with our big V8s!” agreed Toddy.  “Did you know V8 sales are actually going up?” he asked, “because people are saying ‘oh no petrol is gonna run out soon, I better get my V8 kicking right now!’”
“Absolutely everything will be in an iPod by 2020,” said Elly.
“Apple will take over and we’ll be referred to as an iWorld,” agreed Sarah Hall.
BODY
“Apparently you can conduct electricity through your body,” extrapolated Toddy on the idea of an iWorld. “Organic matter is the second most conductive material in the world.”
“Hopefully we’ll all get around in flying cars by 2020,” said Josh, “maybe a transport system powered by magnets or we might fly around in helium suits.”
We might become iHumans downloading new software through our finger? Synchronizing our brain with our computer? Record our dreams?
“I have the weirdest dreams,” said Nikki.
“I have the best dreams,” said Elly.
“I’m often like ‘where did that come from?’ I might not want to watch them again,” said Toddy.
But he didn’t like the idea of too much dehumanisation.
“If America’s plan for ‘Real ID’ microchip identification is implemented in Australia by 2020 I’m moving back to Alice,” he said in a more serious tone, “or out bush!”
Perhaps we need an Alice Palace refuge in the desert if such a situation arises.
The kids I spoke to all hoped that Australia had become a republic by 2020.
“Because the queen is the last royal person that people like – and Di Died,” said Nikki.
Where will we get our water from in 2020?
Anne believed that “in 2020 all of Australia will get water from us [Alice].”
“That’s true – Alice will have enough water for 300 years,” said Toddy, “that is if we don’t pollute it with uranium mining.”
“Alice will be a massive city by 2020,” said Josh, “because all of our large water supply will bring lots of people here and all those people will use up all the water. We might have to suck our water from the clouds.”
“We shouldn’t have water tanks – they give you cancer,” said Elly, “because the stuff on the roof comes with the water into the tanks and it’s bad for you.”
Well at least that got them thinking … a few good, sharp “brightest and best” here, Damien Ryan. Plenty of ideas hatching in preparation for a local government youth summit.


Pip pips the field with art fit for world show. By KIERAN FINNANE.

“It’s more than local work, it’s an international work”, said judge Susan McCulloch in awarding the $15,000 Alice Prize to Alice Springs artist Pip McManus last Friday.
McManus, a well recognised ceramicist with a 30 year practice behind her, won with a work on DVD (stills above), a 55 minute meditative piece that “deeply moved aesthetically” and “inspired” Ms McCulloch.
It is titled Ichor, a Greek word referring to the fluid flowing in the veins of the gods but that is poisonous to mortals.
The title sits well with the work, underlining, without explaining too much, that McManus’s concern with this figure in a human form goes beyond the everyday.
Each viewer will have their own associations as they watch the  disintegration of the clay figure; they will be drawn into reflection by the slow unfolding of what is happening and by the moving score composed by cellist Nic Hempel. Probably a reflection on their own mortality and that of those they love will be the most immediate.
But the centred poise of the figure, its slightly Asiatic features evoking the Buddha, its monumental character, the use of clay itself with its long history in human cultures, the use of water as the means of the figure’s dissolution, all add layers of meaning to the work.
When, back in 2006, I first watched the face fall to leave only the back of the cranium before that too broke down, I couldn’t help recall the destruction by the Taliban of the Buddhas of Bamyan in March, 2001.
As the remainder of the upright figure collapsed and clouds of clay particles swirled through the water, it brought to mind the images of the final collapse of the Twin Towers in New York, on September 11, 2001.
As the heart-like shape in the left breast of the figure opened up and spread fatally towards the head (before its collapse) I thought of my father’s heart finally stopping on December 17, 2001, a very personal association with the events of that extraordinary year but one that shows the potency of the artist creating and working with a human likeness. We project powerfully onto the human form as bearer of our stories, our histories.
Watching Ichor now I am more sensitive to the use of water in the work. As water shortages threaten human communities around the world including in our own country, as once great inland seas, lakes and rivers are drying up and, worse, turn to poison as a result of human use and abuse, we become daily more aware of our very survival depending on this element so taken for granted.
In Ichor we see the stuff of the human – body, culture, history, represented by clay, McManus’s primary material – become one with water: it’s an eloquent statement of our interdependence, of a possible future where if we have destroyed water systems, we in turn will be destroyed.
This is the third major work by McManus (following The Poisoned Well, 1999 and green line, 2001) to take on themes of such global scope, and in doing so to achieve a profound memorial quality, while also creating a work of our time.
Ichor is also showing in the Australian Ceramic Narratives exhibition, at the Western Plains Cultural Centre in Dubbo, NSW, (until May 18).
As McManus is a local resident, the four-week residency component of the prize will be converted, in consultation with her, into something of equal value and of benefit both to her and to the Alice Springs arts community. McManus is current recipient of the inaugural NT public art fellowship (worth $20,000).
On Friday Ms McCulloch, art critic and co-author of McCulloch’s Encyclopaedia of Australian Art, commended organisers, the Alice Springs Art Foundation, for the same spirit, enthusiasm and commitment that led to the founding of the prize in 1970, as well as for the “extremely impressive” hanging of the diverse show.
She appreciated the approach to selection, which chooses an artist rather than a work. The artist is then free to submit whatever work they choose.
She suggested that many artists had developed or chosen to submit work that responds in some way to Central Australia and its concerns. This had led to a number of works being about the environment or about cultural connections and cultural heritage.
She highly commended Kinyu by Eubena Nampitjin (below left) and Swathe by Catriona Stanton (below right).
The esteemed Nampitjin is a leading artist from Warlayirti Artists in Balgo, WA.
Ms McCulloch noted the entry in the prize of this “great painter” with a work priced at more than twice the value of the purse as a tribute to the status of the prize as an art event (likewise the work by abstract painter Col Jordan, emeritus professor of fine art at the University of NSW).
Kinyu, apart from its undoubted country and dreaming references, is a luscious painterly study in pinks – as though a crimson essence has flowered up through currents of frothy air, casting the world in shades of rose. 
Interestingly, Stanton also has a strong connection to Balgo, having worked there as an an art centre coordinator, following a spell as coordinator of Watch This Space in Alice. 
Swathe has grown out of her desert experience, evoking a golden textured terrain seen from afar, perhaps through layers of memory.
Its four panels are composed from thousands of toothpicks – a novel feat but not distracting from the intent and impact of the work, in Ms McCulloch’s view. She expected to be hearing a lot more of this artist.
Ms McCulloch also singled out for mention Sweet Subterfuge by Jennie Jackson (from Queensland) and Mina Mina by Sarah Daniels (another artist from Balgo).
The Alice Prize shows at Araluen until Sunday, June 8. Viewers can vote for their choice of work to be given the Tammy Kingsley Memorial Award ($1000).


LETTERS: Council voting controversy lives on.

Sir,- I am delighted to see the issue of local government electoral systems getting the attention it deserves.
I was going to refer your readers to my extensive analysis and treatment of this issue in the Alice News in March 1995; unfortunately your on-line archives don’t go back that far.
Regretably both Rod Cramer (April 24) and Richard Lim (April 10) miss the main point, and confuse the issue by failing to distinguish between the single member electorate (the election of the mayor) and the multi-member electorate (the election of the councillors).
This distinction is crucial.
In single member electorates, which is what we have for NT Legislative Assembly elections, and the House of Reps, the preferential system is fair.
Mr Cramer’s example is too far fetched to be useful.
His real target comes into the frame when he says: “In the 1988 Alice Springs Council elections, where 24 candidates stood for 10 positions I observed electors’ 20th, 21st and 22nd preferences being used to elect aldermen!”
Yes – now he is talking about the multi-member electorate; a totally different gaggle of politicians.
The ‘exhaustive preferential system’ which we currently use really is obscene in a multi-member electorate like the election for councillors in The Alice.
A Local Government Commission review in Victoria said “such a system flies foul of the principle of one vote one value, and does not accord with tests of electoral fairness”.
As already mentioned our Federal government system uses preferential voting for the single member electorates in the house of Reps, but for the Senate, where six or twelve senators are elected from each State, we use the proportional electoral system.
A bit of history tells us why.
Prior to WWII the Senate used the ‘exhaustive preferential system’.
At one point the conservative coalition had 35 of the then 36 seats, and at another time Labor had 33 out of 36.
This ludicrous situation was remedied by the change to proportional representation in 1948.
In 1997 the Local Government Association of the NT and the Dept of Local Government commissioned a report into the electoral system.
It said: “The major recommendation is the replacement of the current exhaustive preferential method with a dual system of preferential voting for single member electorates and a proportional representation system, modelled on Senate practice, for multi-member electorates.”
Dr Lim addresses Mr Cramer’s example in detail and then refers to “the aldermanic election”.
Wrong. They are completely different.
Then Dr Lim concludes that “an exhaustive preferential system is therefore the fairest”.
This is misleading and inaccurate. The ‘preferential system’ is fair in a single member electorate but the ‘exhaustive preferential system’ in a multi-member electorate is abominable.
Charlie Carter
Alice Springs

Sir,- I am uncertain if the sentiments of LGANT as relayed by Alderman Jane Clark are shared by her, or indeed the Alice Springs Town Council, but the comments in relation to proposed “conditional rating” for pastoral properties are ludicrous, whoever holds them.
Regardless of whether you consider rates a tax or a fee for service, if you pay either, you can reasonably expect to get some benefit for them.
Furthermore Ald Clark, as part of the immediate past ASTC, endorsed the premise that “rates should reflect the level of service provided”; and she also publicly stated her support for “users pay”, which by default means “non-users don’t pay”.
What direct benefit are pastoral properties going to get from any of the new Local Government areas, the rates they levy, or the serices they may provide? 
Library services, streetlights, and roads are mentioned. Which library services, streetlights, or roads are in question? Is it suggested that a pastoralist might detour after dark (so the lights might be on) into Yuendumu, Papunya, Imanpa, Atitjere or Ali Curung, for example, so they can receive their benefit?
Or are the services referred to those provided by the ASTC? The fact is that most pastoralists would spend about the same amount of time in Alice Springs per year as the average tourist but I bet they spend a lot more in The Alice each year.
Furthermore, many pastoralists own a house in Alice Springs or an industrial block (or both) for which they rightly pay rates.
But can they vote in town council elections? No.
Rod Cramer
Alice Springs

Sir,- The three strike rule for law breakers might equally be applied to uranium miners.
So now we have a proposal for a West Australian company and a Canadian company to explore for uranium just a short bike ride from Alice Springs.
As far back as 1960 people knew that uranium was a poor source of energy; too many issues, too many problems and not enough benefits.
Strike one: Uranium waste is incredibly toxic and far more dangerous than green house gases. It lasts as an extremely toxic waste for thousands of years.
Strike two: Uranium is used extensively in weapons of war; from depleted uranium ammunition tested in WA and used in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places to nuclear bombs much stronger than those the Americans used on civilians in Japan in 1945.
Strike three: Uranium mining is a serious detractor from the highly popular tourist destination of Central Australia and would undoubtedly restrict the numbers of people wanting to come here.
YOU ARE OUT!
This is by no means an exhaustive list of uranium mining flaws; others would include corporate greed, miniscule payments to landowners, lies about employment prospects, extreme costs to taxpayers for infrastructure, wholesale disregard of community wishes, no energy benefits to Australia and the list goes on.
So go back in your corporate greedy boxes and tell your stockholders that you are looking for alternative sources of incomes.
Dalton Dupuy
Alice Springs

Sir,- As members of the Braitling Australian Education Union sub-branch, we would like to express our outrage at what we feel is sensational media coverage of the Industrial action taken by members of the AEU-NT, in regard to the teachers’ current Enterprise Bargaining Agreement negotiations.
The NT News has never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
Headlines, such as ‘Teachers work one week out of a month’ and insinuating that we time our stop work meetings for a four day weekend, are outrageous. According to legislation we are restricted as to how and when we can take stop work action and the AEU-NT abides by this.
For the edification of these journalists, I would like to take you through a day in the life of a teacher, especially my workplace.
Most teachers arrive at school around 7.30am where they busy themselves with preparing resources for the day ahead. At 8.30am it is business as usual with students commencing classes.
As the day unfolds, there are lessons to teach, samples of work to moderate and assess, book work to mark, discussions with parents, yard duty, dealing with playground issues, inputting of assessment, dealing with the day to day administrative concerns and attendance at meetings. We work through the day and may even be lucky enough to enjoy a 15 minute lunch.
Most teachers leave work for the day at about 5pm and may in fact take work home with them for the evening.
Please do not get us wrong. We enjoy what we do and are committed to our students. However, to have sensational headlines that do not accurately portray our profession is wrong.
We recently attended a stop work meeting where we were informed that Mr Ken Simpson, Commissioner for Public Employment, did not want to discuss our eroding working conditions.
If we cannot discuss these at our EBA negotiations, where can we discuss them?
In particular, the lack of relief teachers, class sizes, the resources schools desperately need to best cater for students such as ESL Teachers, Special Education Teachers and Well Being Officers, to name a few.
These are vital issues that will not be addressed by the Commissioner for Public Employment.
We implore parents of Braitling students and all other Alice Springs public schools to write letters and canvas politicians and ask these questions. They are pertinent questions that require answers. As parents you may have more fortune in this area than we do at present.
Marty Azzopardi
Braitling AEU-NT

Sir,- Town camps and the permit system were discussed at a recent Senate committee hearing into the Emergency Response Consolidation Bill.
As I listened to William Tilmouth state Tangentyere Council’s argument for the reinstatement of permits, I wondered why we seem determined to have two towns. We are dividing our own house against itself, and sooner or later we will have to stop.
There is a chance that Tangentyere Council is carrying the weight of too many political expectations and past disappointments to still see the wood for the trees.
Perhaps now is the right time for Lhere Artepe to pick up the weight as, in the traditional scheme of things, this is their country.
What if Tangentyere re-incorporated itself as a service provider only and passed in its Public Benevolent Institution rating? Would the town camps then become suburbs under one town council?
By becoming equal parts of the town, the camps could expect equal services and equal infrastructure. By-laws would apply, and trespass laws would protect privacy just as they do in the rest of The Alice.
Rates would also apply, and that will take some negotiating.
The individual camps are already incorporated as housing associations.
Surely clever lawyers could use that and strata titles and bodies corporate and whatever else is available in law to ensure continuity of ownership and a seamless integration into the town proper.
And then a full time truant officer could ensure full time school attendance from every kid in every suburb,too.
Hal Duell
Alice Springs

Sir,- Labor Party attempts to shift responsibility for Aboriginal Affairs from the Territory Government to the Federal Government are undermining the Chief Minister’s arguments for the Territory to become a state.
If Territory Labor doesn’t want to accept responsibility for a third of our citizens how can it claim we are mature enough to become a state?
Rather than attempting to push responsibility away, we need to be embracing the challenge of creating a prosperous Territory with opportunities for all.
No doubt, in part, this call is fuelled by widespread disappointment in the performance of the Labor Government in Aboriginal affairs.
After seven years into Labor’s term in office there has been no improvement in many of the key areas of Aboriginal affairs.
Labor’s poor performance is all the more disappointing given the substantial increase in government revenue during the same period.
If we want to become a state we need to act like one and that means shouldering the responsibility for all our citizens.
Terry Mills
Leader of the Opposition

Sir,- I had not caught up with the Alice News for about a year – I love the new look of the paper.
So much has changed since I left the Alice Springs Hospital in 1997. I communicate with Dr Alan Hughes, your local Ob/Gyn periodically. I hope to include the Alice and Australia on my 2010 final tour.
It seems that so much is changing rapidly in the world and in your part of it.
I hope that the 2008 elections will get my country back on track and reverse some of the Machiavellian policies of the Bush administration.
I must apologize if they have caused your country any embarrassment.
I will be looking in on you all, frequently. Keep up the news!
Semper fi.
Julius C. Butler MD.
USA

Sir,- I have just read the Alice News, and I love to keep contact with my favourite community!
We visit every year or so (since 1980) and next time I shall bring our granddaughter for a graduating present.
We always enjoy the week we spend there and leave with regrets but look forward to the next visit.
I had befriended three Aboriginal children (and kept contact with two) but years have passed and they are now adults.
My fondest memories are of their mothers coming to the bus (we were going to Kakadu) and shaking hands with me and even hugging. They waved while the bus drove away.
Keep up the good work, and I may visit your office in October or November.
Mrs G Kolpin
Orinda, California


ADAM CONNELLY: Cain didn’t kill Abel because he had a different passport.

I’m not a very good waiter for things. I’m not a good queuer. 
In fact I’d like to take this opportunity to apologise for any offence I may have or will cause anyone who may find themselves in the unfortunate position of being stuck in a queue near me.
In the words of, well almost every woman I’ve ever dated, “it’s not you…it’s me.” 
The reason is that whatever the opposite of a saint might be, I have the patience of it.
I can be ridiculously impatient at times and it is something of which I’m not proud. I’d like to change but to be perfectly honest with you I just don’t have the time.
It is therefore never a good idea to say really dumb things around me when I’m in a queue. I, and due to the reciprocal nature of life, therefore you are in a position vulnerable to attack.
I was queuing for a coffee at Gloria Jeans last week and I heard a couple of well intentioned idealists in their early twenties discussing the fact that the world would be a better place if we could just get rid of the pesky notion of countries. If the world was one world and countries didn’t exist then there’d be no wars and everyone would care for their fellow citizens of the earth equally.
Now please be mindful of the fact that I’m in a queue at the time of hearing this philosophy. A nauseating grind began to make itself known in the pit of my stomach and my blood pressure rose. The veins in my neck made an appearance and my eyes instinctively rolled skyward.
To my credit I happily accepted my coffee and calmly walked out of the store. A course of action Dr Phil might call “progress”.
In my opinion however, the trendy, t-shirt wearing, Lennon wannabes miss the point somewhat.
Cain didn’t kill Abel because he had a different passport.
We are all a product of our collective histories and by that I mean that Australians are fundamentally different to Americans who are fundamentally different to Tongans and lines on a map don’t make that so.
Americans and Australians share many things in common. A common language, a common well being and a common code of values, for the most part. We are allies because we agree on more than we disagree.
However we are culturally different.
Barack Obama lost a great deal of political value last week after the Rev Jeremiah Wright made some politically contentious comments.
He said that America brought about the 9/11 attacks upon themselves. He also said that AIDS was invented by a racist US government to keep African Americans down. Not politically savvy comments but they also weren’t Barack Obama’s.
Nonetheless due to the fact that the Reverend was Obama’s pastor, Obama is tarred with the same brush.
In Australian politics, Warren Snowdon takes Kevin Rudd to a strip club and both men’s approval ratings skyrocket. You see we are different.
Politics must be a strange world in which to live and American politics must sometimes resemble a cross between Twin Peaks and the Wizard of Oz.
In no other arena is personal relationship so ridiculously scrutinised. We all have Rev Wrights in our lives. Those people who are a little bit nuts. A roo short in the top paddock, so to speak. 
Take my housemate for example. A particularly delightful human being who is smarter and funnier than most anyone I know. She does however, on occasion, converse with the lizards that come into our home from time to time. A practice that I find slightly, how should I put this, crazy.
To her credit she doesn’t get into deep philosophical conversations with the lizards. She just wants to let them know that they should feel free and comfortable enough to roam the walls and ceilings without fear of the humans intervening.
Another friend of mine is convinced that one of his ex-girlfriends was a gypsy and put a curse on him when they broke up.
He blames this curse for his lack of love life since that time.
I don’t have the heart to tell him that being unemployed, short, hairy and still living with his parents might be a bigger curse.
We all have friends that congratulate women for being pregnant when they’re just carrying some winter weight.
We all have friends that ask Asians how they tell each other apart because “youse all look the same.” We all have friends who believe in conspiracy theories.
In politics these people are called liabilities. In Alice Springs they’re known as characters essential to the fabric of the town.     



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